NEW YORK -- Yankees third baseman Kevin Youkilis missed just over a month with a lower back sprain. He returned just in time to face his old Red Sox team at Yankee Stadium.

NEW YORK -- Yankees third baseman Kevin Youkilis missed just over a month with a lower back sprain. He returned just in time to face his old Red Sox team at Yankee Stadium.

"It's good to get back here, get in the lineup and try to help these guys win every day," said Youkilis, his clean-shaven face still jarring for those who watched him for so many years in Boston. "It's definitely unfortunate when you have to go through these things. You just try to be as patient as possible, but you're also very impatient, too, because you want to speed up the process."

Youkilis hit .266 with a .347 on-base percentage in his first 17 games with the Yankees before he went on the disabled list. He's just one of a series of core players New York has lost in the early going -- though the Yankees still went into Friday's game just two games out of first place in the American League East.

"You're going to need more than 25 guys every year," he said. "In the years that I've been on championship teams, there were always a good 30-plus guys that helped out all year. That's what you need. You need all of the 40-man roster to help out."